Abstract
Loss of belowground biodiversity by land-use change can have a great impact on ecosystem functions, yet appropriate investigations remain rare in high-elevation Tibetan ecosystems. We compared arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal communities in arable soils with those in native forest and grassland in southeast Tibet and investigated their potential contribution to carbon sequestration. The AM fungi were abundant and diverse. AM fungal diversity was significantly higher in grassland than in forest or arable land. Significant differences in AM fungal community composition were found among different land use types. The relative abundance of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in forest and grassland were positively related to glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP), soil organic carbon, macroaggregates, and the unprotected and physically protected carbon, while the AM fungal community in arable soils was dominated by a few OTUs which were positively linked to soil pH. Changes in GRSP content were closely related to water-stable macroaggregates and carbon storage in grassland and forest soils but not in arable soil. Given the inevitable trend toward agricultural management this study emphasizes the need to implement effective agricultural practices that can enhance AM fungal activity to maintain soil quality and carbon sequestration for the sustainable development of this fragile ecosystem.
Highlights
Soil is the largest organic carbon (C) reservoir in the terrestrial biosphere
extraradical mycorrhizal hyphae (EMH) have been shown to affect soil structure and stabilize soils[22], or they may act as a long-term binding agent through the production of glomalin, a structural component of hyphae and spore walls which is released after decomposition[23]
We attempted to understand whether the alteration in Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal community affects soil C pools that are divided by different stabilization mechanisms based on the conceptual model proposed by Six et al.[33]
Summary
Soil is the largest organic carbon (C) reservoir in the terrestrial biosphere. It contains more than 1.5 trillion tonnes of C, roughly three times the C contained in all the vegetation worldwide and twice the amount of C stored in the atmosphere as CO21. Land use can impose major influences on belowground soil biota, leading to changes in microbial communities and activities[12, 13] or species loss[14] which may have great impacts on ecosystem processes and properties including C cycling. An increase in land use intensity is often accompanied by a decrease in AM fungal species diversity[25, 26] or EMH27, studies indicate that AM fungi have some resilience to disturbance[28, 29]. As high-elevation ecosystems are increasingly threatened by intensified human perturbance and climate change, the alteration of AM fungal diversity and community structure due to land use is expected to have profound long-term effects on C sequestration. The present study aimed to provide a novel insight into the impact of anthropogenic influence on AM fungal diversity on the Tibetan Plateau and its potential ecological function in this vast, yet fragile, region
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